10 lithium-ion battery researchers to watch

If we celebrate electric sports cars and grid-scale mega batteries, we should also celebrate scientists and engineers – those at the grassroots, who work long hours yet get only a fraction of the credit. This is the time to roll out the red carpet and present you some of the celebrities in battery research.

Who are we? For over 2 years we’ve been curating Keeping Up with Batteries, a monthly review of the latest battery science and engineering. Each month, we examine over 100 journals and evaluate over 1000 articles so we can disseminate good research. Because good research needs to be read and good researchers need to be known.

Gerbrand Ceder

University of California, Berkeley, USALawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, USA

We’re going alphabetically – and C, in this case, stands for California, Computation, and Ceder. As is common in physical sciences, many discoveries start with fundamental concepts, theory, modeling, and simulations. And there is probably no one who represents this approach better than Gerbrand Ceder. His group brings computational materials science to the forefront, whether it’s for understanding the structure-property relationships in solid-state electrolytes or designing novel cathode materials.

Jeff Dahn

Dalhousie University, Canada

There are probably as many researchers admiring Jeff Dahn as there are car enthusiasts admiring Elon Musk. And as you might know, these two men have something important in common – Tesla batteries. But it’s what they don’t have in common that we like. This Dalhousie lab doesn’t chase publicity; instead, they produce down-to-earth practical research that is extremely valuable to both academia and industry. They tackle difficult questions, they educate and share tools, and as a bonus, they often publish open-access.

Jürgen Janek

University of Giessen, GermanyKarlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany

Most believe the future of batteries is solid. However, such a paradigm shift might feel like going back to square one. Fortunately, there are labs that have already racked up more than a decade of intense research in solid-state ionics, so the scientific community now has much to build on. Jürgen Janek was one of those ahead of the curve. He is the authority in solid-state batteries, and his team’s work is deservedly gaining solid traction.

Jun Liu

PNNL is a hub of amazing battery research, connected in every direction with distinguished laboratories in the US and around the world. Its $50 million Battery500 consortium aims to develop batteries that are better, cheaper, and safer – and lithium-metal anode and Jun Liu are at the center of it all. But this is no esoteric science. It is a combination of fundamental and practical thinking that has led to engineered cells with record-breaking performance (specific energy >300 Wh/kg for pouch cell format). The next-generation battery technology is arriving!

Ying Shirley Meng

University of California, San Diego, USA

To understand complex phenomena inside electrochemical cells, one must often merge theory with experimental characterization – that’s where Ying Shirley Meng dedicates much of her efforts. Her team at UCSD takes advanced techniques to many front lines, including lithium-metal anodes, solid-state electrolytes, and lithium-rich cathodes. Through diverse collaborations, they bridge fundamental science with device development. Here is how basic research should interact with the rest of the value chain.

What’s our methodology? We use a number of different parameters to make our selection. Without going into details, we assess individuals based on their research focus, leadership, academic and industrial impact, collaborations, recent publications, legacy as well as near-term potential, and so on. Our goal is to provide a balanced showcase of battery science and engineering. Choosing only 10 names is difficult, and unfortunately, one can never be comprehensive.

Minggao Ouyang

Tsinghua University, ChinaChinese Academy of Sciences, China

Modern batteries pack a lot of energy that, if things go wrong, can be released very quickly. Stack thousands of them under the hood of an EV, start heating them up, and it’s time to be concerned about their safety. Minggao Ouyang is the foremost expert on battery degradation and failure. His research covers everything from battery management and fault diagnosis to thermal runaways and their propagation. If you care about battery safety (and you should!), he is the one to watch.

Dirk Uwe Sauer

RWTH Aachen University, GermanyForschungszentrum Jülich, Germany

There is a whole cohort of prominent German academics who link battery chemistry with device physics; work with large cell formats and test them under realistic conditions; and get into serious engineering to develop concrete technologies for electric vehicles or energy storage systems. Their labs are nested in an effective network of world-class universities, national research centers, and the automotive and electronics industries. One example is Dirk Uwe Sauer and his team. The work you’ll find in their portfolio is as multifaceted as a journey from lab to market.

Recent sample papers: Fast charging of an electric vehicle lithium-ion battery at the limit of the lithium deposition process / Journal of Power Sources /// The development of stationary battery storage systems in Germany – A market review / Journal of Energy Storage

Yang-Kook Sun

Hanyang University, South Korea

Cathode research has always enjoyed a lot of attention, so it’s a difficult place to stand out. But in the design and synthesis of advanced cathode materials, Yang-Kook Sun is in a league of his own. Even after years in the spotlight, his nickel-rich NMC and NCA chemistries are pushing today what seemed like a limit only yesterday. His lab has managed walking a fine line between academic curiosity and industrial applicability.

Chunsheng Wang

University of Maryland, USA

May we present you one of the most creative scientists out there – Chunsheng Wang. Pick any important area of battery research and his team will have contributed to it. For instance, we like their work on high-voltage electrolytes and electrode/electrolyte interfaces. We also like them challenging the limits of battery operation via, for example, extreme temperatures or mechanical deformation. Whatever the topic, whatever the collaboration, they get interesting results.

Rui Xiong

Beijing Institute of Technology, China

A battery management system is the electronic brain that operates each cell and battery pack. It balances performance, reliability, and safety. And as battery applications grow in number, so does the research into battery models and state estimation. Rui Xiong comes from the younger generation of BMS researchers, but having learned from the best, he is already establishing a stellar reputation in the field. Every battery engineer and developer should have him bookmarked.

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